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What the future holds for Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider creative director Noah Hughes talks about the ways the character could continue to grow in future Tomb Raider titles, after the character progression of this first game.

One major focus of Tomb Raider was an attempt to make Lara more relatable -- more "hero" than "superhero." Crystal Dynamics wanted to make this game about her first steps down that path, but the developer is already thinking about what comes next for the character and how to retain her humanity.

"We really do complete Lara's journey in this story and get her to a point that she really feels like she is on that road to being a tomb raider," creative director Noah Hughes told Shacknews. "Having said that, this is only her first experience and we sort of wonder how she resolves that into her life and how it becomes an important part of her life going forward. Similarly there's aspects outside the island like Lara's wealth that now we're able to deal with. So there's lots of exciting places to go with it even though we take her to a point that she does feel that she has a degree of competence and confidence."

That confidence doesn't mean she'll jump feet first into the type of brazen heroics that defined the older games, however. "It's also important to us that we retain the sense of humanity, so Lara won't lose a sense of fear in death," Hughes continued. "She'll really have a greater sense of confidence in herself and ability to overcome those fears. So rather than have her devoid of human characteristics, we really see that expression of her heroism overcoming those. That's the balance, we think we have forged a hero in this story, but we also think that hero has a lot to learn about herself and the world as we bring her forward."

For our take on how this first journey worked out for the character, check out our review.

Steve Watts

Editor-In-Chief

Steve Watts' youthful memories are are a blur of pixels, princesses, castles, and Mega Busters. After writing about games as a pastime for years, he got his first shot at a paid gig at 1UP. He's freelanced for several sites since then, and found a friendly home at Shacknews. His editorial duties include news, reviews, features, and lunatic ravings. He lives in the Baltimore-Washington area with his shockingly understanding wife.